


Failures and Futures

by annaliesegrace



Category: Pitch (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 18:59:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8459227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annaliesegrace/pseuds/annaliesegrace
Summary: Ginny and Mike face the consequences of one night together.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Request from anonymous: Ginny and Mike had a ONS. Things changed (they became distant) after they decided that they couldn't be together but now Ginny's late and they have to have a real conversation while they wait for the results.
> 
> I didn't quite capture it precisely but hope its close enough!

This was not happening. Not now.

It was about the worst possible scenario for her right now; the end of the line for a career that had barely started. A season and a half in and she’d be done. All because she’d made the mistake _again_ of sleeping with a teammate. God, she was an idiot.

Frustrated, she tossed the bag from the 24-hour drug store onto the bed with more force than was strictly necessary and the little box taunted her by skittering across the smooth surface of the comforter and landing somewhere by the night table.

_Fuck me_.

Ginny laughed aloud at the thought, no…that’s what had gotten her into this mess: two weeks late and a pregnancy test now somewhere on the floor of her hotel room.

She couldn’t actually bring herself to find the box and take the test, couldn’t face the potential of two little lines that would change everything.

Slumping to the floor at the foot of the bed, Ginny buried her face in her hands, one damn night had done this.

_They’d had a miserable series against the Dodgers, winless and were quickly spiraling out of playoff contention, this had had a morose effect on the clubhouse as they were all aware that their captain’s chances for that World Series ring were dwindling. At the start of the season they’d been hopeful, the starting pitchers had looked good, bullpen was…well, not awful and hitting was consistent. Then the All Star break happened and the wheels came off the bus. Their number two starter went down for the year, the bull pen tanked and the hitting dried up, even Mike’d been having a dry spell. Actually, Mike had been off for the better part of a week, she could sense that he wasn’t quite himself._

_So Ginny had shown up at his house with a bottle of Tequila just as he’d been ready to call it a night._

_“Baker,” he’d moaned after opening the door to her smiling face._

_“Lawson,” she imitated back, walking past him while shaking the bottle. “I come bearing gifts.”_

_“That looks like a headache tomorrow,” he grumbled, but closed the door and followed her into the kitchen where she had already pulled out two shot glasses and was starting to open the bottle._

_“Ginny-“ he started, trying to protest but didn’t bothering finishing when she gave him one of her wide smiles. Maybe Ginny Baker and some tequila was exactly what he needed._

_In no time she had the bottle opened and was pouring them each a generous shot of the tequila._

_It went down smooth, that should have been a sign to them both the turn this night would take, but instead Mike grabbed the bottle and poured two more, which disappeared with equal speed._

_Ginny moved to the stools on the other side of the counter (taking the bottle and glasses), and he followed, sitting next to her._

_“’Sup with you, Lawson?” she asked bluntly._

_“Nothing,” he replied and poured another round, but the full glasses stayed on the counter this time._

_“Not, nothing, Old Man.” Thin fingers tapped against the marble near the tequila, by his hand. “You’ve been off for a week, two nights ago you called for a strike when we’d clearly decided a screwball against Trout.”_

_Avoiding, he picked up the glass and tilted it toward her. Fully aware of the avoidance tactic he was using, she picked hers up and they drank together._

_“Lawson, c’mon...I thought we were friends.”_

_“We are, Baker, we are-”_

_The fingers that had been tapping on the counter moved to his forearm, stroking gently, waiting him out. Because Ginny knew he would talk eventually, but she also knew you couldn’t push Mike Lawson, doing so would only result in stony silence._

_“Yesterday was my wedding anniversary.”_

_“I’m sorry-”_

_He laughed mirthlessly. “And conveniently the one year anniversary of the divorce. Yes, we finalized our divorce ON our ninth anniversary.”_

_Her heart broke. “Oh, Mike.”_

_His hand waved between them dismissively. “Don’t ‘oh Mike’ me. We’ve been divorced a year, and the last two of our marriage were…strained.”_

_“That doesn’t mean it can’t hurt.”_

_It was her turn to refill the glasses and Ginny was fully aware of the warm, comfortable feeling that had started radiating through her body, one more shot and her head would start to swim just a little. Hopefully Mike was feeling the same, if only to dull some of the pain he was feeling. Once again, they downed the amber liquid and based on his somewhat glassy expression, Mike was feeling it._

_“That’s enough of this,” Ginny said and put the cap back on the tequila – though it was probably far too late._

_“You’re a good teammate, Baker. You know that?”_

_Putting her elbow on the counter, Ginny held up her head with one hand and looked at him with a dazzling smile. “I try.”_

_“You spend all your off nights with teammates trying to pull their heads out their asses?”_

_The grin on her face grew. “Nope, just you.”_

_Then, without really thinking about the why, Ginny leaned over and placed a feather light kiss on his cheek. It was meant to be innocent, comforting, but when she pulled away, Mike was staring at her like she was his whole universe, then he wrapped his hand gently around her wrist, pulling her back toward him._

_She didn’t resist when he leaned in and their lips met because damn, she had wanted this for the longest time, and not just because his poster had hung on her wall but because they had grown close in the last year and half, probably closer than they should have. Their closeness had only fed the chemistry that seemed to exist from minute one. His lips were soft against hers, almost tentative and the beard didn’t scratch as she’d expected._

_For a moment, they pulled apart before coming back together almost desperate, needy. Ginny scooted to the edge of her seat attempting to get as close to him as possible, but it wasn’t enough._

_He seemed to have the same thought because in one smooth movement he pulled away, wrapped his large hands around her small waist and lifted her onto the counter in front of him. The surprised look on her face had him smiling._

_“The arms work just fine, rookie.”_

_Grinning devilishly, Ginny set her sock clad feet on either side of his thighs on the chair, knees almost even with his shoulders and leaned over, kissing him deeply, tongue swiping across his lower lip. Mike groaned and his hands slid up her sides slowly, fingers gliding along the smooth material of her shirt before wrapping around her back and holding her firmly in place._

_Her hands meanwhile, had slipped to the nape of his neck, fingers playing with his hair._

_“We shouldn’t be doing this,” he whispered between kisses._

_“No, we probably shouldn’t.”_

_Mike pulled away from her, face serious. “You want to stop?”_

_In response, she leaned back, grasped the hem of her shirt and pulled it up and over her head, and as it went, the shirt pulled her hair tie out as well, spilling her curls around her shoulders._

_“Answer your question?” she asked and leaned toward him again, hair falling like a curtain around them, pressing her lips to his and swiping his lips with her tongue. Mike made an obscene noise and his hand slipped over exposed skin on her back, up her spine, across strong shoulders and then down her sides to rest at her ribs, it was as if he couldn’t get enough of her._

_Pulling away, she sat up straight and stared at him, almost daring. The temptation to pull the zipper of her sports bra down and fully reveal her to him was great but he resisted in favor of placing his lips on the skin above her breasts, kissing his way across then up the column of her throat, then behind her ear._

_She squirmed delightfully under him, laughing sweetly as his beard tickled the skin of her neck._

_When he started to work back down, kissing her collarbone, dipping his tongue in the hollow of her throat before tracing her breastbone Ginny pulled away, swinging both feet to one side and hopping off the counter, holding out one hand to him._

_He took it, and lead her up the stairs._

The next morning she’d disappeared before Mike had even woken up, hoping to avoid the entire awkward morning after situation. Unfortunately, her attempt had only lead to weeks of awkward interactions where she had refused to talk about it (because she’d made that damn mistake again), keeping their relationship strictly work related.

What they had done (and then not talked about) hung between them uncomfortably. She felt horrible about it, Mike had been hurting about the anniversaries of both his marriage and divorce and was vulnerable, she’d fed him tequila, taken off her shirt and slept with him. That was the definition of a terrible teammate – and friend. Their regular calls had slowed then stopped when she’d refused to answer.

It was karmic justice, she thought, that she was late. The universe teaching her an ugly lesson.

Just as she was summoning the courage to get up and find the damn bag there was banging on the hotel door. Stunned, she didn’t even move, until the banging was accompanied by a familiar deep voice yelling her name, “Baker!”

_Oh, sure. Of course he shows up NOW._

“You can’t keep ignoring me, Baker…” She remained silent. “Fine. Wanna be that way? We will have this conversation through the door and everyone on the floor can hear it.”

_He wouldn’t, would he?_ She wondered then quickly realized, _yeah, he would._

And sprang to her feet, yelling, “Coming, Lawson. Settle down.”

Taking deep breath, she opened the door to find him standing there quietly, hands now clasped in front of him looking innocent as can be.

“Lawson,” she said flatly.

“Baker,” he replied evenly, there was silence then, “Well, now that we have introductions out of the way can I come in?”

“Yeah, sure,” she mumbled and moved into the room, leaving the door open for him.

The door closed with force then his voice rang out loudly, “We need to talk.”

Ginny flinched, she had successfully avoided talking to him for four long weeks (the worst weeks of her life if she was honest with herself) but the streak was about to end. Today of all days.

“About?” she asked, being purposely obtuse.

Mike’s face screwed up in frustration. “You know perfectly well about what, Baker.”

“I’d rather not-“ she said honestly. Literally any other day.

“Yeah? Well I’m done giving you space or letting you avoid me or whatever the hell you’ve been doing for weeks.”

“It’s just…” she started, let her eyes flicker to the bedroom then back to him before saying, “not a good time.”

“It will never be a good time, Gin. We need to discuss what happened, we need to figure out how to move past it because if we continue on like this…avoiding each other…”

“What?” she asked harshly.

He sighed and took several steps toward her, stopping with plenty of space between them. “We used to be friends. I miss our talks on the mound-”

“We talk on the mound,” she protested weakly.

“No, we discuss strategy on the mound, we don’t… _talk_ anymore. I miss calling you at night and talking about whatever dumb shit pops into our heads.” He ran his hands over his beard. “Jesus Gin, I just…I miss you.”

Her heart sunk. Because she missed him too, so damn much it was painful; missed their easy friendship, missed hearing his voice at night, missed…everything. Tears started to well in her eyes but she blinked them back.

“We need to fix _this._ Us. Please.” He took another couple tentative steps toward her and for a second Ginny was annoyed that he was treating her like a scared animal and then he spoke again. “I’m sorry, Ginny.”

_What?_

“For what?” she asked, confused. It was her that had brought the tequila, it was her that had started it.

“For taking advantage.”

“You…are you serious?” she asked, the look on his face told her he was. “If anything I took advantage of you.”

He frowned. “How do you figure?”

“Lawson, seriously?”

“Yes, seriously. I should have stopped it. I know your rule but damn I didn’t care. Even as we- I knew it was wrong but didn’t stop it.”

“Yeah? Well I brought over tequila, got you wasted then took advantage of your emotional state about the anniversary of your marriage…and divorce. And I didn’t exactly stop it either.”

For a long moment, they stared at each other then at nearly the same time broke into grins. Mike spoke first, “Are we seriously not talking to each other over thinking we each took advantage of the other person?”

“I…I think so.”

Mike sunk onto her couch and she followed, perching on the arm.

“Look,” he finally said. “I think we can both agree that while it was great…I mean, really fantastic, it was a bad idea and it can’t happen again. Can we…move on?”

Once again her eyes flitted to the night table and the bag with the little rectangular box in it. God, she had to tell him, suddenly Ginny didn’t want to face this alone and somehow she knew Mike would be there for her.

“I’m late,” she blurted out.

“For?” he asked, confused. The stony look on her face helped him fill in the blanks and she watched realization cover his face though he remained silent, staring at her.

“I didn’t…” she blew out a breath. “I realized last week but I couldn’t, I thought it would come…we were so damn careful.”

“Have you taken a test?”

“No…I have one I was about to when you showed up.”

“Jesus, Gin,” he whispered and continued to stare at her, confused and…conflicted, maybe? She wasn’t sure.

“I don’t know what to do. I mean, right now I don’t know and I can pretend that everything’s fine, you know? That I’m not pregnant. But if I go in there and pee on that stupid damn stick…what if its positive?”

Mike slid across the couch, carefully taking her hand in his, gently kissing the palm. “Then we go from there, and I am with you Ginny…no matter what. But we gotta know for sure. Take the test.”

Hands shaking, Ginny nodded and got up from the couch, slowly making her way over to where the bag had fallen to the ground. Picking it up, she looked back at Mike, who was watching her with anticipation, and disappeared into the bathroom.

It took less than two minutes to figure it out…pee on stick, set stick down. Wait the longest three minutes of your life. Oh, and wash your hands.

Obediently she peed on the stick and sat it on the counter, but she couldn’t stand there staring at it and instead walked out (after washing her hands) to find Mike now perched on the edge of the bed.

“Well?” he asked.

“Three minutes,” she said and sat next to him.

He made a non-committal noise and stared straight ahead.

Her hands wound almost violently around each other. “Arent you terrified?” she finally asked because he did seem unnaturally calm while her whole world was falling apart. This would destroy her.

“Oh, yeah,” he said and turned to her. “But I’m the guy here, Ginny. I mean…it’s you that has to decide what to do if its positive. It’s you that would have to give up literally every single thing you’ve worked so damn hard for because I couldn’t keep it in my pants. I can’t ask you to do that if you aren’t willing.”

She snorted. “Yeah well if you couldn’t keep it in your pants, I apparently couldn’t keep mine on.”

“Let’s call it an equally stupid decision on both our parts, shall we?”

“Agreed,” she said and smiled. Then she looked at the timer on her phone, minute and a half left. “Have you thought about having kids before?”

He shrugged. “Thought about it. Rachel and I discussed it but then she started to move up in the world of journalism and didn’t want to take time off. Just…never happened, I guess. Probably for the best, I wouldn’t be a very good Dad, I don’t think. Narcissist and all.”

She placed hand on his. “For what it’s worth I think you’d be a great Dad.”

The timer went off on her phone and she practically jumped out of her skin.

“Time’s up,” he said. “Want me to come with?”

“No, just…no.”

Rubbing her hands on her thighs in nervousness, Ginny got up slowly and moved to the bathroom, approaching the small white stick as if it was a bomb then looking at the small display panel.

It was negative.

A tsunami of relief flowed through her body.

“Well?” his voice came from the doorway.

“Negative.”

He visibly sagged with relief. “Is it ok to admit I’m really happy about that?”

“Yeah, its ok.”

Ginny disposed of the test quickly and ushered him into the living room again. There was an awkward silence between them.

“So,” he started then paused, unsure what to say exactly.

She grinned at him and said, “I’m sorry. For my behavior, afterward, it wasn’t fair to shut you out when you’d really done nothing wrong.”

“Apology accepted. Though, you know what? I’m not sorry about what we _did_ , it’s what we both wanted but maybe our timing was poor.”

She nodded in agreement. “We good?”

“We’re good,” he parroted back.

Ginny walked him to the door and they hugged, tighter than they usually did.

After they pulled away, Mike planted a light kiss on her forehead. “Maybe one day the timing will be right.”

“Maybe, old man.”

“Night, rookie.”

As he walked down the hall toward the elevators she watched him go a minute before turning back into the room and softly closing the door. She had a very good feeling the timing would be right sooner than later.

END


End file.
